San Diego County, San Diego Rat Control Situation:
Hi David, Is a UV blacklight still useful, exterior-wise, if it rains after the rodents leave their urine stains? I am in the process of performing exterior maintenance to better exclude my roof rats. 1) I have a 25 year old cedar shake roof in San Diego California with openings under each shake along the rake edge of the roof at the gable ends of my house. There's no drip edge, i.e. under the shakes I have roofing paper (now somewhat curled) that runs more or less up to and rests right atop the fascia board. Because I have skip sheathing, and since the cross section of a shake is a wedge that is up to one inch at the upper, thick end, this appears to create many huge entry points along the rake edges even though the sheathing is rabbeted into the fascia board. As a result, I'm thinking of getting a UV blacklight to use outside the house to sleuth for urine stains along the upper edge of the gable end shakes and fascia boards. My question is, how easily does the winter rain wash away the urine, rendering this a pointless exercise? 2) I noticed a new product called "rat-out gel" and was thinking of applying it along the rake edges mentioned above. Or, maybe I should just buy many rolls of X-Clude and use that instead. Or maybe both. Any comment? Thanks very much for your website, Doug
My response: First off, I do not have experience using UV lights to detect rat urine. But I do suspect that rain will severely limit the effectiveness of this approach. I have never heard of Rat-Out Gel or XClude, but I typically stick to physical barriers rather than repellent type devices. If your roof makes this impossible, you might have a tough time keeping the rats out.
San Diego Rat Control Tip of The Week
What Attracts Rats To Your Property?
Being a homeowner, you definitely don't want rats to infest your home and make it their nesting place. If you are concerned about this, you need to know certain things that can attract rats to your property and do all you can to keep those things away from your property.
In order to help you prevent a rat infestation, right here we will be sharing all the things that are capable of attracting rats to your property. By knowing these, you will be able to keep your property safe from rats.
1. Food Substances
Unlike other household pests, rats are not picky eaters. They tend to eat all kinds of food, provided they are placed where they can easily access them. The moment a single rat gets to know that your house has an abundant supply of food, it will invite others and your property will soon become a nesting place for rats. To avoid this, the best thing you can do is store your food properly and dispose of leftovers when you no longer have plans to eat them.
2. Pet Waste And Trash
Just as mentioned earlier, rats will feed on anything they have access to and this includes your pet's food. When you have pet food around at all times, rats will find their way into your home.
This also applies to having trash around your property. When rats want to hunt for food, the first place they visit is trash cans because they feel that your leftovers might be disposed of there. The longer you keep trash in and around your property, the more likely rats will be attracted to your property.
3. Dripping Pipes
Rats are thirsty animals and are always in search of clean water to drink. If you have dripping pipes or sprinklers around your home, this will tend to attract rats to your property.
